The Minister of Health of Belarus Dmitry Pinevich announced the timing of the start of mass vaccination against coronavirus in the country, writes the “Sputnik Belarus” publication.
According to him, every interested Belarusian will be able to get vaccinated for free in April, when the immunization of the most vulnerable groups of the population is completed: doctors, teachers, employees of transport, trade and the media. He noted that, first of all, Minsk will focus on the purchase of Russian vaccines against COVID-19, but in the near future it also intends to establish supplies from the PRC.
Pinevich noted that Belarus has already signed a contract for the supply of 170 thousand doses of the drug with Moscow. In total, at the end of spring, the republic’s authorities expect to provide vaccinations for 1.2 million people. “Russian vaccines are not just Sputnik V – I repeat once again, the strategic direction of work with our Russian colleagues,” the minister said.
Belarus announced the start of a campaign to immunize certain groups of its citizens against coronavirus on December 29. At the same time, the president of the republic, Alexander Lukashenko, refused to be vaccinated and said that he considered himself a skeptic in this matter. According to the latest data, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 225 thousand people have fallen ill in the country.